Apart from the obviously brilliant insight from Sam’s books I have a few books that I think have made me see things differently and grow. I would recommend Alain de Botton - consolations of philosophy, love story and his book on Proust (forgot the title!)
Douglas Adams - hitchhikers guide is also a great series to allow you to laugh at the absurdity of life
daisy Goodwin has a collection of poems she puts together and i find they are a brief antidote to a lot of problems. Happy reading

> author=“boomadonna”
> I’m looking for recommendations on self help books. I’m hoping to find some suggestions to filter through the self-improvement section plagued by books similar to The Secret. So… any suggestions?

Self-help books are written to the mainstream. Mainstream people do not really want help. They want to feel like they are improving themselves. Its a self-image thing. Their self-image is that they are people that do personal growth. But if they picked up a book that requires some major thinking, they would give up quickly. So self-help books that try to reach a big audience suck because they are gearing them for the biggest audience, which is people that don’t like to think much.

> I’m 25, and have been working as a web developer since graduation high school. My job is easy and I certaintly don’t hate it, however I’ve never really been passionate about it. I’ve always been interested/passionate about behavioral studies,

The field of psychology and psychiatry is majorly flawed. To know why, check out some Thomas Szasz books. He’s a psychiatrist who started the anti-psychiatry movement (the coercive part of it).

Karl Popper and Elliot Temple have refuted many theories in psychology such as cognitive biases, cognitive dissonance, the theory that personality traits are static, and many others.

> and I (think) I want to have a career in this field.

The field sucks so a career in it would suck too.

> I have some anxiety about college considering I was a terrible student in high school, and it’s been some time since I was in that type of environment.

If you don’t like school, then don’t go to school.

> I obviously can’t let these feeling deter me

That is immoral. You should do what you like. Don’t suffer now so that you can have something you want in the future. Instead, do stuff you like now *while* gearing up to get what you want in the future.

> - yet, they are definitely stalling me (as well as a number of other things). I’m looking for something to help set my mind in the right direction, and move forward with my life.

Philosophical thinking is the only way for you to help yourself.

Note that people that believe they are helped by self-help books are people that think well, meaning philosophical thinking. They judge ideas for themselves and figure out what is right and what is wrong. They are selective in that way. The people that don’t believe they were helped by self-help books don’t judge ideas for themselves. They are not selective.

I joined a few philosophy lists about a year ago. I learned these things by learning philosophy. Not just any philosophy. Not the philosophy of university philosophy departments. I’m talking about Popperian epistemology.